


30-Day HQ Writing Challenge: Daisuga

by emerald1963



Series: 30 Day HQ Writing Challenge [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Chapter 1:, Chapter 2:, Daichi makes fun of Suga's scented candle obsession, Date Night, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Pretty much just crack, Suga's revenge is sweet, daichi thinks talking to suga about his crush on suga in the abstract is a super great idea, so much pining, suga's not too psyched about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:32:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3603426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emerald1963/pseuds/emerald1963
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of fics for the HQ 30-Day Writing Challenge that focus on Daisuga! Each chapter will be a separate one-shot, most likely, although some of them will be set in the same universe as each other.</p>
<p>Chapter 1: Date Night<br/>If Sugawara Koushi loves two things, they are Sawamura Daichi and scented candles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 30 Day HQ Challenge, Daisuga edition! This is my first Daisuga fic so I hope I characterized them all right. This drabble is set in the same universe as [the Iwaoi fic I wrote for the challenge yesterday](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3597462/chapters/7935477), where Iwaizumi and Oikawa attend college with Suga and Daichi and the two share an apartment!  
> Also, I got the idea for this fic from [these monstrosities](http://www.yankeecandle.com/browse/_/N-1z141b4). I don't know why they exist either.  
> I hope you all enjoy!

If there was one thing Koushi loved… Well, if there was one thing Koushi loved, it was Daichi. But if he could write a list of all the things he loved, soothing scents would probably come in somewhere in the top ten. He and Daichi had entire shelves in the apartment they shared with Iwaizumi and Oikawa dedicated to Koushi’s minor obsession- neat rows of bubble bath bottles, baskets of bath bombs, and, of course, jars upon jars of scented candles. Koushi preferred the flowery scents like lavender and rose. Working on his undergraduate degree in psychology, playing on the university’s volleyball team, and waiting tables part-time to pay the bills was often stressful and exhausting. He felt he deserved small rewards to ease the stress, and nothing helped him more than some nice aromatherapy at the end of a long day. It was too bad that Daichi just didn’t understand the appeal.

It wasn’t that Daichi judged him for using scented candles, or thought they were too feminine, or anything like that. He was just thoroughly mystified by them. “They just smell like flowers, what’s the point?” he’d asked more than once. A sighing Koushi had tried to explain the mental and physical benefits of the smell of flowers, but that had more or less fallen on deaf ears. Daichi didn’t mind having the candles burn day and night, and Koushi was pretty sure that he used the bath bombs every once in a while. (Either that, or Oikawa was using them, but Oikawa had his own supply of bath bombs, so that seemed rather unlikely.) But Koushi had given up trying to convert him to the joys of aromatherapy.

That was why it was surprising when Koushi came home at the end of an exhausting shift to find a few cylinders covered in colorful wrapping paper on the kitchen table and Daichi standing in front of them with a wide smile on his face and his arms open.

“Hi, Suga,” he said. “Welcome home! How was your shift?”

Koushi leaned into Daichi’s hug, letting the other’s arms envelop him. “Terrible,” he said into Daichi’s shoulder. “I got a pitcher of ice water spilled all over me and this one woman sent her order back _six times_.”

“Poor Suga,” said Daichi, petting his hair. “Well, I have something here that might make you feel a little better. I saw something online the other day and I thought of you. They just got here today. Here, open them now!” Daichi removed his arms from Koushi’s waist and handed him one of the cylinders. “Do this one first!”

Koushi carefully peeled off the wrapping paper on the first package, making sure not to rip it. As he’d suspected, it was a scented candle. The wax was a calming dark olive green color. Koushi rolled the jar over in his hands to read the label. It was… _camouflage_ -scented? Koushi blinked a few times at the label, trying to make sure he was reading it right. No, it definitely said camouflage. What was Daichi up to?

He raised one eyebrow and held the candle up to Daichi’s face, asking “What is this?”

Daichi didn’t answer, but his grin was widening and he looked like he was holding back giggles. “Open the next one.”

Koushi put the first candle aside and unwrapped the second one, a little less carefully. He read the label and couldn’t hold back a bark of laughter. _Mmm, Bacon_??? Someone had seriously made a bacon-scented candle? Where did Daichi even _find_ these?

He turned to look at his boyfriend’s face. “Daichi, _what_.” 

Daichi started to laugh, waving his hand to signal Koushi to keep going. “No, there’s still one more.”

Koushi unwrapped the last candle slowly, torn between laughter and fear of how much worse this gift could possibly get. Apparently, it could get a _lot_ worse. Koushi had to put the candle down for a minute and collect himself after he read the words _On Tap_ on the label of the final candle, complete with a picture of several mugs full of beer. Koushi took a few deep breaths, trying to comprehend that he lived in a world in which some company actually found it profitable to make beer-scented candles and in which he now owned one of said beer-scented candles. He couldn’t BELIEVE his boyfriend.

Said boyfriend was now collapsed in a fit of laughter, clutching his chest. “They’re… man candles…” he explained through giggles. “They’re for… manly men… like us.”

“Daichiiiii,” Koushi pouted. “Are you making fun of my candles?”

“No!” Daichi protested, which would have been much more believable if it hadn’t been disrupted by a snort of laughter. “I just thought they were really funny!”

“You’re the worst boyfriend ever,” Koushi complained. “I thought I could come home and you’d give me support about my horrible day. Instead I come home to some kind of aromatherapy persecution.”

“Love you too, Suga,” choked Daichi through another fit of laughter. Koushi could feel the urge to laugh bubbling up in his chest, too, but tried to throttle it in favor of scolding his boyfriend.

“You’re terrible, you know?” he said, whacking Daichi lightly on the shoulder.

Daichi pulled him into a kiss. “I know, I’m your terrible boyfriend,” he said. “I don’t know why you put up with me. But you’re smiling now, aren’t you?”

He _was_ smiling. He had to admit that the candles had cheered him up and stopped him thinking about his horrible day, even if they were abominations that should never have come within fifty feet of the rest of his poor candles. Daichi did know him well. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get his revenge for this.

*** 

That Saturday night was their weekly date night. They both had busy college schedules but they’d decided to devote one night every week exclusively to each other. They took turns planning the date; tonight was Suga’s turn, and he knew exactly what to do. They were staying in that night. Since Iwaizumi and Oikawa were going out to some sort of sci-fi movie together, much to Iwaizumi’s vocal displeasure and Oikawa’s overexcitement, they had the apartment to themselves. He sent Daichi out to get takeout from their favorite sushi restaurant that they could eat while they watched the comedy Suga had rented from the library. While Daichi was gone, Suga did a little decorating. He grabbed some warm blankets from the linen closet and put them on the couch, put a vase of flowers on the coffee table, and set up the popcorn maker so they could make movie popcorn after they finished their takeout. The final touch was the candles. Suga grabbed them off his special shelf, placed them in strategic locations around the living room, and lit them with five minutes to spare before Daichi got home.

He heard the jingling of keys in the lock and moved to the door to greet Daichi. “Let me get some of that for you,” he said, kissing Daichi on the cheek and grabbing one of the full takeout bags from his arms. “Do you want to eat on the couch or at the table?”

“Let’s eat on the couch and get the movie started,” Daichi said.

“I trust you not to spill anything,” said Koushi with a wink as he sat down on the couch. He leaned forward a bit to set out the food on the table while Daichi went to the DVD player to stick the movie in. The two of them leaned against each other, eating their sushi while chatting idly about the movie. Everything was perfect.

That is, until about ten minutes into the movie, when Daichi sniffed and then wrinkled his nose. “D’you smell that, Suga?”

Koushi played innocent. “What are you talking about?”

“It smells sort of weird… Do you think the sushi is off, maybe?”

Koushi made an elaborate show of sniffing his. “It seems fine to me. Don’t be a worrywart, Daichi!”

“Well, okay,” said Daichi dubiously, and took another bite of his food. 

Five minutes later, the smell was undeniable. “Seriously, what is that, Suga?” Daichi asked. “You can smell that, right?”

Koushi tried to look innocent, but a wicked grin was spreading over his face. “I have no idea what you mean, Daichi!”

“No seriously, it smells like…” Daichi sniffed again. “A frat house. In the middle of the woods. With rancid meat…” He paused. “Hang on, Suga. You’re not- are you burning those candles I gave you?”

Koushi burst out into giggles. “It’s a manly date night,” he choked through the laughter. “We needed manly candles, don’t you think?”

“Suga, these are _horrible_. You weren’t supposed to actually _use_ them.”

“You brought this on yourself,” Koushi reminded him with a grin. Ahhh, revenge was sweet. ...actually, revenge smelled really, really, nasty. It was some unholy cocktail of old, stale beer, artificial bacon grease, and a woodsy smell that might have been nice on its own but only served to intensify the off notes from the other two candles. Koushi was starting to regret this. It was worth it for the look on Daichi’s face, but he hadn’t thought about the fact that he’d also be subjecting himself to the terrible smell.

“You’re _evil_ ,” Daichi moaned. 

“I’m only using your thoughtful gift! I thought you’d appreciate this, Daichi!” Koushi maintained an innocent, angelic tone and blinked at Daichi with big eyes. 

Daichi looked distraught. “Suga, I’m so sorry,” he groaned. “I will do _anything_ to get you to blow these out.”

Koushi waggled his eyebrows. “Anything, you say?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Koushi said wickedly. “Let’s just blow them out now, we’ve suffered enough.”

They sighed in relief as they blew the candles out, but their relief was short-lived. 

“Why isn’t the smell going away?” Daichi complained fifteen or so minutes later. 

“I think it’s getting stronger, even.” Koushi wrinkled his nose. “Do you think if I light some of my real candles it’ll help?”

“I’m willing to try anything,” Daichi said, burying his nose in his elbow.

It didn’t help. The lavender candle Koushi had selected, rather than masking the horrible frat-house smells, managed to intensify their sour and rotten notes. The two made a valiant attempt to keep watching the movie, trying to breathe only through their mouths, but the smell seemed only to increase with each passing moment. 

“You’d think we’d at least get used to it,” said Koushi.

“I regret everything about this,” moaned Daichi.

“So do I,” agreed Koushi ruefully. He didn’t know whether to count his revenge plan as a success or not. He certainly had made Daichi regret ever seeing the candles, but he hadn’t realized he’d be bringing himself down in the process.

“You know what?” said Daichi abruptly, standing up from the couch. “Let’s go out to a movie. My treat.”

“Good plan,” said Koushi, standing along with him.

“And let’s open all the apartment windows before we leave. Maybe the smell will dissipate.”

“It’s December.”

“Would you rather come home to a freezing apartment or come home to more of _this_?” 

“You make a good point,” Koushi agreed, grabbing his coat. “Come on, let’s go.”

They returned to their freezing apartment that night to find an angry Iwaizumi and Oikawa but only a faint smell of old alcohol. After a quick explanation, all four of them agreed that the low temperature was worth it to get rid of the smell. (Iwaizumi and Oikawa were nearly in tears after they heard the story, much to Daichi’s dismay. If Oikawa liked a story that much, the entire volleyball team and half of the university usually heard about it within twenty-four hours. Koushi was pretty sure that Daichi didn’t want his humiliation spread around the entire school, but, well, that was what he got for mocking the perfection that was the scented candle.)

“And anyway, I can think of a way to keep us warm,” Koushi said, nudging Daichi in the side and winking wickedly. “You did promise you’d do anything if I blew the candles out, right?”

Oikawa immediately turned to Iwaizumi and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him towards the bedroom. “Good idea, Suga-chan,” he said. “Come on, Iwa-chan, we can’t let them beat us!”

“How is this a _competition_ , Shittykawa?” Iwaizumi’s voice faded away as Oikawa slammed their bedroom door firmly behind the two of them.

Daichi rolled his eyes. “Those two are ridiculous,” he said fondly.

“So are we,” Koushi reminded him, embracing him.

“Maybe a little,” Daichi admitted. He kissed Koushi on the nose. “I am sorry about the candles, you know. I hope you’re not upset. I don’t understand what’s so great about them, but you love them, so I’d never make fun of you for them on purpose.”

“I was never really mad,” Koushi said. “It was really funny. I just thought it would be fun to make you squirm a little, you know?”

“Wow, Suga,” said Daichi, grinning. “Everyone thinks you’re an angel, but you really are a little devil, aren’t you?”

“Hey, I never claim to be an angel,” Koushi said, squeezing Daichi closer. “People just assume. It’s not my fault.” He felt warmth radiating through him, despite the coldness of the apartment.

“It’s that face, and that grin,” Daichi said. “They could get anyone hooked on you. And your kindness keeps them hooked, until they realize what a mischievous jerk you can be.”

“I’m _your_ mischievous jerk,” Koushi replied, kissing Daichi on the cheek.

“Thank goodness for that,” Daichi smiled. “Now, about that favor I owe you…”

As they walked toward the bedroom, Koushi thought that he wouldn’t trade his boyfriend for anything, not even for all the scented candles in the world.

 

**Epilogue:**

 

“What are we going to do with the candles, Daichi? I refuse to let them take up precious shelf space.”

“We could just throw them out, I guess,” Daichi suggested.

“No, that seems like a waste,” said Koushi. “These candles are a weapon of mass destruction. We should pass them on and spread the mayhem.”

Daichi looked at Koushi with an expression of awe and horror. “Wow, you _are_ evil.”

“Let’s see, who do we know who’s manly enough and stupid enough to actually want these candles?”

“I think I know just the guy,” said Daichi.

A week later, the Tanaka household received a package with a Tokyo return address. 

“Wow, Noya-san, look at these!” Tanaka cried excitedly. “Daichi and Suga sent me candles all the way from Tokyo! They say I should use them the next time I’m on a date with a girl!” 

Noya peered over to inspect the package. “Oooh, bacon-scented? Whoa, that’s way cool, Ryuu! You’re gonna impress all the girls with these!”

Tanaka flexed his biceps, holding one jar in each hand in what he imagined was a cool pose. “You better watch out, ladies of Miyagi! Tanaka Ryuunosuke and his Tokyo candles are coming for you!”

Inside the house, Tanaka Saeko facepalmed.


	2. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi has a crush on Suga, and he needs advice. Unfortunately, the only person whose advice might help is Suga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! For day 3 of the challenge, please have an extremely cliche confession fic featuring everyone's favorite parental duo, Daisuga! I hope you enjoy!

Sawamura Daichi has a problem. He thinks he’s in love with Sugawara Koushi. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem in itself, because Suga is an angel. He’s kinder than anyone Daichi’s ever met, willing to give so much of himself up for others to be happy, but under his gentle exterior there’s a core of hard singing steel and a soul bright as sunshine. Daichi can’t think of anyone he’d rather have fallen in love with than Suga, really. But there’s still a problem; Daichi has no idea how to confess, or if Suga even likes him back, or how he’d react if he doesn’t. He needs to talk to someone about the problem and sort his feelings out, but he doesn’t know who. He could talk to Yui about it; that’s what he did when he first realized his feelings and had what both of them now refer to as “The Big Gay Crisis” at three in the morning. But he feels guilty burdening Yui any more about it, since she had to live through the week he spent in more or less a continuous freakout. Anyway, the two of them have been over this ground too many times, and the only advice she’s given him is “Confess to him, you dummy! You have to go for it!” which, granted, is probably good advice, but starts seeming less helpful around the fifth time he hears it. 

Unfortunately, the only person he wants to talk to about his big crush on Suga is… Suga. Whenever he’s had a big problem in the past, with grades or family, he’s always gone to Suga. The other boy has always had the perfect advice for the situation, and when Daichi’s problems can’t be fixed, he’s still so comforting that Daichi leaves the conversation feeling like everything is a little less hopeless. He needs some of that right now, but he obviously can’t talk to Suga about this without confessing…

Or can he?

It’s a desperate plan and Daichi thinks Suga will probably see right through him, but he tries anyway, because at this point thoughts of Suga are becoming a constant hum in the back of his head and he needs to let some of them out somehow before Suga is wired so deep into every synapse that he can’t think of anything else. So one day after practice he approaches Suga in the locker room as the other boy changes into street clothes (trying not to stare at the way his back muscles flex as he pulls his sweater over his head) and asks “Hey, Suga, can we talk about something?”

“Sure,” says Suga, turning around to look at Daichi inquisitively. “Nothing serious, I hope?”

Daichi shrugs. “Serious, but not bad. I hope.”

“Do you want to go somewhere else to talk about it?” Suga asks. 

“Maybe somewhere a little more private,” Daichi mumbles, looking at the rest of the team changing around them. He definitely doesn’t want anyone else getting wind of this situation, _especially_ not any of the first-years, dear God. There would be far more awkward questions than he’s comfortable answering.

They end up in a courtyard outside the gym, one where Kageyama and Hinata have been known to practice spiking. They sit down on a bench and Suga turns to Daichi and says, seriously, “Tell me everything.”

Daichi swallows deeply. His heart is in his throat and he’s trying to hold it down. “I… I like someone,” he says.

Suga stills next to him; tension is suddenly written in every one of his limbs. Then he relaxes, so quickly and smoothly that Daichi wonders if the stiffness was ever really there. “Oh, Daichi, that’s wonderful! Who is she?”

“I don’t think you know them,” Daichi lies. “The thing is, I want to confess to them, but I’m scared.”

Suga pats him on the shoulder. “Take your time,” he says. “You don’t have to confess to them if you’re not ready yet.”

“I don’t know…” Daichi sighs. “The thing is, I really want to be their boyfriend. Whenever I’m with them it feels right, like I’ve just come home. But they’re already one of my best friends, and I’m scared that if I confess to them I’ll ruin it and they won’t want to stay friends.” This was the right decision, he thinks- with every word he forces out of his lips, he feels just a little lighter. Suga hasn’t even said anything yet, but the soothing effect of his presence is already working.

“If they’re your true friend, they’ll want to work past the awkwardness, won’t they?” Suga says. His face is closed-off but thoughtful.

“I hope so,” Daichi says. He considers his next move for a second and then decides to go for it. “If one of your friends confessed to you and you didn’t like them back, what would you do?”

Suga scrunches his nose up in thought, and Daichi has to smile. The expression is incredibly endearing. He feels his heart lurch almost painfully in his chest. He’s in too deep.

“I wouldn’t let it hurt the friendship,” Suga says, face smoothing out again. “If they were only interested in me for the sex that would be a problem, but if we were really friends, I would want to hold onto that. I would try to make sure that I didn’t ever make them uncomfortable, but other than that, I would hope our friendship wouldn’t change.” He smiles a little wistfully as he adds “I’m sure you’re as important to them as they are to you, Daichi.”

Daichi feels a weight lift off his heart. No matter what happens here, he won’t lose Suga. “Thank you,” he says. “That’s really good to hear.”

“Go ahead and confess to them, Daichi,” Suga says, thumping him on the shoulder blade and nearly pushing him off the bench. “Don’t be a wimp!”

“Okay, I will,” says Daichi, steeling himself. He takes a deep breath in, ready to say “I like you,” but the breath sighs out without bringing any words with it. He’s still nervous. A confession to someone as perfect like Suga has to be good enough for him, and he has no idea what to say. “I don’t know how,” he admits. “I’ve never confessed before.” A sudden idea hits him, brilliant in its simplicity. “Will you help me plan a confession?”

Suga bites his bottom lip and worries it, his brown eyes shining suddenly huge in his face. “I don’t know, Daichi. I’ve never confessed to anyone or been confessed to, so I might not really have advice for you.”

“I trust your judgment, Suga,” Daichi says. “Just tell me what you’d want, say, if you were getting confessed to.” 

“Well, if you’re sure,” says Suga doubtfully. “I think I’d like something personalized, you know? Not just a generic ‘I think you’re really cute and I’d like to get to know you better’. Well, that wouldn’t even make sense if the two of you are already friends, would it?”

“I get what you mean, though,” says Daichi. “Focus on the things I really like about them and make sure they know it. Should I get them something, too? Maybe chocolates or something?”

“I don’t think it’s essential,” ponders Suga. “Don’t give them chocolates just because you think you’re supposed to, you know? Only give them something that you think they’ll really like.”

“I think I can do that,” Daichi says. “Thank you so much, Suga, you’re honestly a lifesaver.” This plan was perfect, he thinks. If he gets every detail out of Suga as to what he’d like in a confession, he just might be able to sway Suga towards him. He leaves that day feeling optimistic and hopeful. Maybe nothing will go wrong.

***

Sugawara Koushi has never had so many things go wrong quite so quickly. Koushi thought he was dealing with his crush on Daichi, he really did. He thought he’d accepted that Daichi was most likely straight and the best that they could ever be was best friends. But he hadn’t counted on Daichi getting feelings for someone else, expecting Koushi to talk him through it, and then expecting Koushi to help plan his confession, of all things.

The first day is the biggest shock. When Daichi says he likes someone, Koushi almost stops breathing for a minute. He’s gotten so used to their usual state of things, with neither of them particularly interested in dating anyone, that his ever-present worries that Daichi would find someone else have faded into the background over the past few months. They come slamming back into him now, with all the disorienting force of a spike to the face. He recovers well, he thinks, although with every word he speaks ice seems to lodge itself more and more deeply in his chest. He’ll give Daichi confession advice, if he has to. He can’t hold anything back from Daichi that will make him happy, and this mystery girl, whoever she is, is clearly making Daichi very happy. He wonders if Daichi knows how his face lights up when he talks about her. He wonders if Daichi knows how the warmth radiating from him when he talks about how much he loves this girl feels like it’s burning and freezing Koushi all at once.

After that first conversation, he goes home, eats a healthy dinner, walks his dogs, does his homework, then crawls under the covers and stares at the ceiling for a few hours. He lets himself mourn what he wanted to have with Daichi, what he could have had if maybe he’d been faster and taken what he wanted before Daichi developed this stupid crush on someone else. Then he gets up again and messes around on the computer for two hours, because, well, he can’t mope forever, can he? He still has Daichi’s friendship, and even if the scene in the courtyard was one of the most painful of his life, well, it’s over.

Except it’s _not_ over. Much to Koushi’s horror, Daichi keeps coming back to him every day, asking for more and more suggestions on this stupid confession, because apparently one conversation wasn’t enough. He asks Koushi his opinion on everything from possible flowers he could give (Koushi likes lilies) to whether stuffed animals are too cliche (only if they’re bears) to how, exactly, he should word every single good quality that his crush has. Apparently she’s sweet, caring, and gentle, but fiery enough to keep up with Daichi and not let him get away with things, not to mention the most beautiful person Daichi has ever seen. ( _and their_ eyes, _Suga, I think I could just stare at their eyes all day and never get tired of it,_ Daichi said in one of their meetings, staring into Koushi’s eyes instead.) That makes Koushi’s heart break the most, because he privately thinks that he has most of those qualities too, if only Daichi could have looked _closer_.

He wonders who the lucky girl is. It’s probably Michimiya Yui, the girl’s team captain. Koushi can’t think of any other people that Daichi would be close enough to to worry that much about ruining the friendship. He’s happy for them, or he tries to be. He likes Michimiya, and she’d be good for Daichi. He could use some of her bubbly exuberance sometimes. That doesn’t stop him from glaring at her in the halls, just a little, or muttering _“I’m not going to lose to you”_ under his breath as they pass. He regrets it immediately after; it’s not Michimiya’s fault Daichi fell for her. It’s not even Daichi’s. It’s just the way fate works, he guesses. He hates it.

Koushi hates himself for being this passive, for just watching as Daichi slips away from him and probably into Michimiya’s arms, for even _helping_ him. “Do something, Koushi,” he tells himself desperately. “It might not be too late. Don’t just watch this happen.” But he’s not sure if there’s anything to do, really. Daichi’s so clearly in love; he can see it shine out of every pore now that he’s looking for it. He can even see it when Daichi looks at him, sometimes, an almost awestruck expression, and he wishes Daichi could direct his gaze anywhere else when he’s thinking about his crush, because every time Daichi’s eyes meet his with that expression in them it’s the sweetest agony he’s ever known.

It’s a sensation he’s familiar with, though, if he thinks about it. He spent two years in the wings waiting to be the team’s official setter, and right when he got the chance, it was snatched from him by the tornado of talent that is Kageyama Tobio. Once again, he’s losing out on something he’s always wanted just because of bad timing and because someone else was undeniably better. It’s bitter, even more so because he probably has even less of a chance of turning this around than he did in his battles with Kageyama.

He decides, firmly, that if he’s going to lose a chance at a relationship with Daichi then he refuses to lose the friendship as well. He stakes his claim on Daichi’s time, inviting him over to his house every night that week to do homework and watch movies. While this means he subjects himself to more crush talk (“Do you think “sparkling” or “glittering” is a better description for someone’s eyes?” “Are you telling someone you like them or writing a love poem? Why do you even have time to mention their eyes? Brevity is the soul of wit, Daichi”), it also means that he gets to spend time with Daichi without a girlfriend hovering around in the background, waiting to take Daichi’s time for her own. Whoever the girl is, when she accepts Daichi’s feelings, she’s going to have to learn that she can’t just monopolize him. Daichi and Koushi are a package deal; she’s not going to be able to separate them, not if Koushi has anything to say about it.

He revels in the little things that he and Daichi share. Their lunches together, where Koushi can just reach over and steal the best vegetables out of Daichi’s bento while Daichi grabs a few pieces of fish from his; the feeling of their fingers loosely intertwined and swinging together on their walks home; standing with Daichi and trading wry comments about the progress of the first-years. He prays that he doesn’t lose these, the little moments that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone but him and Daichi. They’re what he lives for, now.

He starts flirting with Daichi too. Just a little- maybe “Trust me, Daichi, anyone would be lucky to have you” delivered with a wink, staring just a little too long at Daichi when he executes a clean and perfect receive in practice, sneaking heart emoticons into his goodnight texts. They’re all subtle things that he could deny if Daichi gets angry, but he feels better this way. At least he’s putting himself out there, a little. 

Maybe he can live with this after all.

***

Daichi doesn’t think he can live with this for one more minute. It’s been helpful, using Suga to get ideas for the confession, but his crush is reaching the boiling point. He decides, finally, that he’s as ready for the confession as he ever will be. He has a bouquet of lilies in water back home. He has a stuffed warthog which he scoured four different gift shops to find; apparently they’ve been Suga’s favorite animal ever since he watched _The Lion King_ when he was small. He has a box of chocolates with chilies in them that he figures will appeal to Suga’s bizarrely fire-resistant tastebuds. More importantly, he has a perfectly-worded confession, which he’s tested every word of on Suga and also had Yui read over just to make sure that he hadn’t let any strange sentences slip by. Now all that remains is to set it up.

“Suga,” he says that night when the two of them are walking home, “I think I’m ready.”

Suga hums assent. “You certainly have put a lot of work into this.”

“Thank you so much for helping me with this. You’ve been a wonderful friend.” He’s been a little too friendly and not nearly as romantic as Daichi hoped, honestly. Daichi can’t count the number of hints he dropped that the person he was talking about and the person he was talking to were one and the same, but all of them seemed to fly blithely over Suga’s head.

“I’m just happy for you, Daichi,” Suga says, smiling at him in the twilight. “Your crush sounds wonderful. I’m sure they’ll say yes.” His face looks open and vulnerable. “Just make sure you leave time in your schedule for the rest of us, all right?”

“Of course,” Daichi says fervently. “You’re my best friend, Suga. We’re not going to stop spending time together.”

“Good.” Suga looks relieved, maybe too relieved. Daichi wonders for the first time if maybe it’s been a little mean to put Suga through this, assuming that the other boy actually does like him. _Shit._ Well, he’s about to fix all that, he guesses. If Suga really does like him. If he’s not about to humiliate himself.

“I still need your help, though,” Daichi says, trying not to smile. “Are you free tomorrow before afternoon practice? I’m going to ask them to meet me in the courtyard so I can confess, but it’d be a lot easier if you were there… you know, for moral support.”

Suga raises an eyebrow. “Really, Daichi? You want me there for the actual confession? Don’t you think your crush is going to feel weird about that?”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine with it,” Daichi says.

“Please don’t make me do this, Daichi,” says Suga, almost desperately. His tone makes Daichi’s breath hitch in his throat.

“Please, Suga. I need you. I can’t do it without you.”

Suga’s eyes are huge, the setting sun reflecting in them, and Daichi thinks that right now “glittering” is a better word than “sparkling” to describe them. “Well, all right,” he says, smiling weakly. “But you owe me one for this. You better take me out to dinner or something.”

_Oh, I will_ , Daichi thinks, sending up a prayer that his instincts are right and Suga really does like him back. _Every night if you want me to._

***

Koushi cannot _believe_ that he was dumb enough to say _yes_ to Daichi’s request. Why does Daichi even need him there? Isn’t he a big boy, can’t he tell Michimiya he likes her by himself? Is he really this much of a masochist, that he agreed to be there and watch his dreams get ripped to shreds in vivid 3D Technicolor? He usually has no trouble saying no to Daichi’s bad ideas, and this is definitely one of his worst. Why did he agree?

He really has no idea, but now he’s here in the courtyard, tapping his foot anxiously because both Daichi _and_ Michimiya are late. He has no idea what he’s going to do if Michimiya gets there first- chat about the weather? Stare awkwardly and try not to kill her for stealing his not-boyfriend? He’s glad when Daichi steps into the courtyard first, arms full of an array of packages and a huge bunch of lilies. Koushi’s lips twitch- he hopes Daichi picked those flowers because they happen to be Michimiya’s favorite as well, not just because Daichi heard him throw out a suggestion and decided that lilies are objectively the best flower.

“Hi, Suga,” Daichi says, one of his hands making a motion that probably would have been a wave if his arms weren’t full to the brim. “Thank you for coming, I seriously appreciate it.” He sits down heavily on the bench, placing his packages carefully on the ground around him, and pats the spot next to him. Koushi sits immediately.

Silence stretches out for a moment, unbearably heavy. Koushi’s the one to break it, almost to his own surprise. He’s been teetering on the edge of doing this ever since Daichi came to him with his feelings, and he guesses he’s finally feeling brave enough to go through with it in this eleventh hour. “Hey, Daichi, I just wanted to say that this is really bad timing and probably inappropriate but you’re still technically unattached so I just wanted to say right now that if Michimiya turns you down you shouldn’t feel like you’re out of romantic options altogether because I personally really-”

Daichi holds up his hands and speaks over Koushi. “Wait, Suga, why are you talking about Yui?”

Koushi pauses. “I mean, you’re confessing to her, aren’t you?” he says as if it were obvious. “You said you were confessing to one of your friends so I just assumed…”

Daichi sighs and rubs the back of his head with his hand. “Okay, Suga, I may have… lured you here under false pretenses, and I’m really sorry about this because it just occurred to me last night that it might have been hurting your feelings, but-” he picks up the bouquet of lilies that he had placed carefully across several packages and hands them to Koushi, who accepts them almost mechanically, unsure of what Daichi’s doing. “These are, um, for you.”

Koushi stares at the lilies, his brain filled with their scent and the words that Daichi can’t just have said.

Daichi leans down again and grabs something else and hands it to Koushi, whose hands are trembling almost too much to let him make contact with it. He tears the wrapping paper off the package to find a box of chocolates. “They have chilies in them,” Daichi says awkwardly, repeatedly folding and re-folding his hands in his lap. “I know you said chocolates were cliche, but I thought you’d really like them, so… yeah.”

He hands the next package over, but by this time Koushi has regained enough of his sanity to ask for clarification. “Daichi,” he asks softly, afraid that if he’s too loud the spell will break and Michimiya will suddenly appear to grab the chocolates out of his hands, “was this all for me?”

“It’s always been for you,” Daichi says, and he’s looking at Koushi like Koushi is his world.

Koushi’s first reaction is to punch Daichi in the shoulder. “Daichi, I can’t _believe_ you,” he fumes. “Do you have any idea how much you made me worry this week, you jerk? I spent the entire week thinking you were in love with someone else and I was helping you win them over. You’re lucky I’m so nice or I would have stormed out on you at least ten times.” He is mad, sure, because this was spectacularly shortsighted of Daichi, but somehow he has a hard time sustaining the anger for too long. It keeps slipping out of his grasp and flying away into the distance, leaving only sunshine behind. It doesn’t help his quest to maintain the anger that hundreds of moments from the past week are flying into place and forming the picture he should have seen before, the picture made up of all those adjectives that describe Koushi _perfectly_ and all those tiny comments and searching glances, the picture that screams _Daichi loves you too_.

“I’m so sorry, Suga,” says Daichi, looking stricken. “I really wasn’t thinking about that. I just kept thinking that I needed to talk to someone, and you’re the best person to talk to about anything. I didn’t realize I was going to hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” says Koushi, radiant now. “I accept your feelings, Daichi. But you’re definitely going to have to take me out to dinner to make up for this.”

“As many times as you want,” Daichi says, and he’s grinning so hard that Koushi swears it’s going to split his face apart. “Can I kiss you now?”

“God, _please_ ,” says Koushi, setting the chocolates, lilies, and still-unopened package neatly on the end of the bench before leaning in and capturing Daichi’s lips with his own. It’s maybe not the most perfect first kiss anyone’s ever had- they have trouble figuring out where to place their faces so their noses don’t bump into each other- but Koushi’s sure they can improve on that after lots and lot of practice.

Several kisses later, they pull apart, both flushed and feeling very alive.

“I never read my confession speech to you, did I?” says Daichi ruefully. “I spent hours on that and then we ended up kissing before I could even get to it. Do you want me to read it now?”

“It’s okay,” smiles Koushi, feeling full up to the brim with joy. “I’ve heard it all before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for today, everyone! For any questions or comments feel free to visit me at [oikawatooruinedmylife]() on tumblr! Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow with another fic!

**Author's Note:**

> That's all for this chapter. I hope you guys liked it! I'm over at [oikawatooruinedmylife](http://oikawatooruinedmylife.tumblr.com) on Tumblr for comments or questions. See you next chapter :)


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